CHAPTER XXIII 



Africa 



F, 



OR YEARS press of work in Cambridge had forced 

 me to concentrate on short journeys to the West Indies 

 and Central America; but deep in the background of the 

 consciousness of every real "bug hunter" is an overwhelm- 

 ing desire to visit Africa, so that finally we ended up — 

 and by we I mean my wife, Julia, Louisa, and Margaret 

 Porter — in making a quick round trip to get the high 

 lights, and especially to visit the Kruger Park. This proved 

 so enjoyable that we went again the following year, es- 

 pecially to see National Parks, as I have recounted here- 

 after. 



If — in the peace to come — you sail up the east coast 

 of Africa, take a freight steamer that stops at many places 

 and does not hurry in and out of the ports too quickly. 

 Thus on a freighter we left Lourengo Marques and put 

 in at Beira, which presents little of interest but the fish 

 market. There we picked up quite a good collection of 

 fishes. There was little else to do. Fish markets vary enor- 

 mously. In some you find that the habits of the people 

 are such that only a few special species are brought in; 

 in others, where the population is omnivorous, fish may 

 be found in bewildering variety. This was the case in Beira, 

 and while we had no idea of making a collection, when 

 Rosamond and I began to walk around the market we 

 found such an extraordinary variety of curious and in- 



